Is Anything too Difficult for the Lord? - The Life of Abraham

Main idea:
The true state of your heart is seen in your automatic heart responses. How we honor and worship God is inseparably tied to how we live our lives everyday and treat others. This is also seen in the subtle ways in which our heart hides in unbelief. We forget God's promises and think we are alone in our battles when we don't see the answers we expected in life. But God comes gently to challenge us and rouse us from our unbelief.

Outline:
1. A gracious host prepares a sacred meal
2. A deep sin, unexpectedly exposed
3. A mighty God, and a gentle reminder

Scripture References:
• Genesis 18:1-15
• Hebrews 13:1-2
• Romans 8:31-39
• Hebrews 11:11-12

Application questions:
• Do you limit your expectations to avoid disappointment?
• Where does your confidence lie today? Is the main confidence of your life, your expectations and your view of the future rooted in God and his faithfulness?
• Does your faith drive your imagination?
• Ask God to open your eyes more. Ask him to show himself, to deepen your trust.
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Read text: Genesis 18:1-15

We are back on the journey of faith with our father in the faith Abraham. And every turn in the story, every scene, every chapter - reveals new things about Abraham and his journey of faith. At the same time, we see ourselves in these stories. The struggles and challenges in these stories are the same things we face everyday.

One of the questions that I have been turning over in my mind the last few years is "How do we become people of deep and genuine faith in God? How do we become the kind of people, from whom the life of faith flows like a river, rather than being forced externally?"

The answer to this question has many layers and sides. Its not just a simple 3 step process.

We tend to be very simplistic in our understanding of our faith. We think that my faith is clearly seen in my ability to give the right answers to questions about God.

Do I believe that God is the Creator of all things? Yes.
Do I acknowledge that I am a sinner and need his help? Yes.
Do I trust in Jesus as the one who died for me, and through whom I receive forgiveness? Yes.

The Bible shows us that its not enough to just give good answers. The things that we truly believe deep down in our hearts - are more often revealed in our automatic responses to life situations.

We need to learn to pay closer attention to our automatic heart responses - because here we gain real encouragement for the evidence of God's transforming work, AND here we meet the pockets of unbelief that hide in our hearts.

Here God shows up to gently confront our unbelief and show himself more clearly to us.

These are the lessons we want to see as we look at our story today.

1. A gracious host prepares a sacred meal

"The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre..."
Moses gives us this preface so that we know clearly what is happening from the beginning. But notice, the real identity of these mysterious visitors is not so clear to Abraham from the very start.

If Abraham was telling the story of this unusual day, he would start with the second part of verse 1....

"...while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. 2 He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him..."

Abraham is an old man, he has just finished tending to his daily business and he has just sat down for his midday siesta - it is the hottest part of the day. The part of the day to take a little break in the shade.

Everything in this first part of the story is very clearly focused on how Abraham responds to this unexpected interruption.

Moses gives many details to emphasize it. He wants to paint a vivid picture because he wants us to see Abraham's character on display here.

This whole scene is also set in contrast to the the scenes that will follow in the next chapters about the hospitality that the angels will receive in the city of Sodom.

Moses is showing us the massive contrast here between the house of faith and the evil of the world.

"he looked up and saw three men were standing near..."
Maybe a clue that something about these visitors in a little unusual? They just appeared there when he looked up.

"he ran to meet them, bowed to the ground..."
"my lord, please stop by, rest, water for your feet, some bread..."

Abraham is a man of status. He is a leader of a clan, a wealthy and powerful man.
As they agree he springs into action.

"hurried to the tent, "Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and make bread.”
"Ran to the herd and got a tender choice calf...(the best of the best)..."

1 measure was about 7 liters.

Fresh baked flatbreads, steak strips and some cheese curds....

And he stands by them as their host - he does not sit with them to eat.

Who wouldn't want to be a guest in Abraham's house??

Why is Moses giving us this much detail on the hospitality?
• A contrast between the house of faith and the city of evil - how the guests are treated
• The fine flour and the calf - allusions by Moses to the sacrificial system of worship to God
Abraham out of the goodness and the humility of his heart serves these mysterious visitors - well it turns out he is literally serving God himself.

Abraham is truly becoming a father in the faith, a prophetic figure and a model of devotion to God - his life in and out is soaked with real humility and devotion and its reflected in how he serves God and how he responds to people.

There's an important point here about hospitality - a point that needs to be made in an age of radical individualism.

Hospitality is presented all over the Bible as a characteristic of truly Godly people because they acknowledge that all that they have is given as a gift, and as an opportunity to serve others.

Opening your home, your time, your money - in the service of others has always been a key characteristic of God's people.

Hebrews 13:1-2
"Let brotherly love abound. Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it."

Its always tempting to see our home especially as a retreat from the world. We think that if we serve God in other ways we can afford to me more selfish in this area.

Its easy to think that people who always host and show hospitality are just people who are extra social and just like having people over.

Hospitality is a lot of work. And it has to be seen as an essential means of loving others in the community of the saints.

Also hospitality will cost you your comfort. It’s not just inviting your closest friends over to socialize. It’s opening your home to when there is a need and it’s the last thing you want to do.

Moses chooses to highlight the growing faith of Abraham not by telling us how much money he sent to a missionary - but by telling us his humble mindset to serve.

2. A deep sin, unexpectedly exposed

As the meal concludes, the identity of these mysterious visitors becomes more and more clear.

We see that the main character of the three is the Lord himself. The other two men are angels. Later in the story, the Lord departs and the angels continue on into the valley of Sodom and Gomorrah.

There are a number of places in the Bible where God appears to people - these appearances are obviously disguised and veil his full glory. Moses and the bush, Moses and Sinai, Jacob in the night, etc. These are personal intentional encounters where God shields his full glory from people in order to speak or interact more personally with them.

We also see the purpose of their visit.

"9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he answered.
10 The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him."

Somehow this visitor knows the Sarah's name, and he speaks the same promise the God gave Abraham in the previous chapter.

Its interesting to see that there is no new information given. In the previous chapter God gives the same exact promise to Abraham.

Why say it again? Well as we read this story we see that the emphasis here is on Sarah - God has come in such a personal situation so that she may here the promise herself from him.

And he knows she is eavesdropping on the conversation.

We don't know if Abraham told her about what God told him in chapter 17, the time here shows there is not a lot of time between 17 and 18, but her reaction shows the state of her heart.

She laughs at the idea. And this is the moment that God is here for. He is here to speak to HER heart in the midst of this struggle.

it says she laughed TO HERSELF - a silent chuckle.

She wasn't expecting this stranger to be making such silly predictions.

But what she REALY wasn't expecting was that this visitor could read her mind.

"why did Sarah laugh?"

Shes totally blindsided by the question.

The closing verse of the story is kind of funny.

Sarah denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid.
But he replied, “No, you did laugh.”

How do you respond to a guy who reads your mind?

Its a funny situation that highlights the foolishness of our hearts sometimes.

We do dumb things when we are caught off guard and try to protect our reputation - when we are afraid.

It seems like an innocent enough thing - just a little chuckle at the ridiculousness of God's promise - but God catches it and presses the point.

One small sin always leads to another - the joke is on us when we think we can get away with things, when we think that we can do things that God does not see.
We are the ones left in a foolish situation.

God does not let this "little sin" go - he is here for Sarah - he is here to expose her heart and challenge her unbelief.

And he does it so gently - even though it makes her look silly.
"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did."

Isaac's name doesn't come up in this chapter directly - it was stated in the previous chapter - where God told Abraham his sons name will be Isaac - which means "laughter" in Hebrew.

So what Moses does here is a play on words as he finishes the story is use the same hebrew word twice.

She said " I did not Isaach"
and the Lord said, "Yes you did Isaac"

Its like if the sons name would be mark and she said, "I did not miss the mark!" and he said "yes you did miss the mark"

3. A mighty God, and a gentle reminder

Moses makes sure to clearly show us WHY this situation was funny to Sarah.

"11 Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing."

Not only do we know from previous chapters that Sarah was unable to have children even when she was a younger woman.

in that phase of life - it was EXTREMELY unlikely that she would have a child. And God called then and said they will have children. He was promising to overturn her barrenness.

But here the situation is even more clear. "She is passed the age of childbearing..." literally in Hebrew - "the way of the woman had ceased with her" - she was past menopause - it was not impossible for her to get pregnant!

Her own thoughts give us a deeper view of the situation:

"“After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?”"
they are both really old, and this word delight can mean one of two things:
• the delight of becoming a mother and having a child
• the delight and pleasure of physical intimacy - this is the side the most commentators seem to lean to because of the meaning of the word Moses uses - shows that she is at an age where she is no longer physically intimate with her husband.

God needed to drive this situation to the point of impossibility - so that in doing this he can expose their hearts more clearly AND to show HIMSELF.

Its exactly what Jesus did when he heard that his friend Lazarus was sick - he stayed a few days until he was dead - and THEN he showed up.

This exposes a common tendency in us - we always have our own "common sense" limits on what we think God will and will not do in our lives.

On things he CAN and CAN'T fix. On things that we CAN and CAN'T hope for.

Jesus can heal Lazarus. But he can't raise him from the dead.

God can take away Sarah's barrenness but he can't give her body the ability to have a child when she is past old age.

All this leads to the central question in the story.

THIS IS THE LINE that the whole story hinges on.

This is why God appeared as a man to come sit under a tree and eat steak with Abraham - to confront Sarah's own unbelief and ask:

"IS ANYTHING TOO DIFFICULT FOR THE LORD?"

this question is meant, not just to show us that God can do anything - but that NOTHING is DIFFICULT for him!

He spoke a word, and the universe burst into existence. Do you think its difficult for him to answer your prayers???
Everything that for us is such a painful toil, all the things that we scrape by with all our efforts - to him its no effort at all.

Why then do we limit what we think he can or cannot do?

It's because we want to protect our hearts from disappointment.

Sarah has been on a loooong journey of hoping against the odds. Of hoping against hope.

And she had settled in her heart because its easier that way.

God made the promise to Abraham but its the wife that has to conceive and birth the child.

Yes God made a promise. But obviously the son wont come through me. I will leave nothing behind in this world. Abraham's son will be from someone else.

Its easier to just set a limit on HOW you think God will answer the prayer so that your heart doesn't have to be broken or discouraged again.

Maybe you are struggling through a difficult relationship in your life.
Maybe you are praying for a loved one.
Maybe an illness.
Maybe a continual sin and temptation in your life.
Maybe you look at the world around and you say its too broken its hopeless.

And you are tempted to just throw in the towel and say - this will never change.

We can make all kinds of excuses - that its the situation, etc, etc - but deep down its our view of God.

We stop believing that God can work redemption and power in our lives.

Here is where the prosperity gospel gets it wrong - they say, "God can do ANYTHING! And he WILL, if only you keep believing!"

Here is where we get it confused - we think, "If God isn't answering or fixing this situation in the way that I envisioned it, it means that he has abandoned me."

Here's the important point:
God can do anything. And he WILL do everything that he has promised.

The reason we loose hope and faith is that we loose faith that he is actually present in our struggles to work in powerful and beautiful ways - ways that make it all worth it.

Can things change? YES. Will they? I don't know. But What I DO know is that God is HERE, and he is working through my struggles, he is working through my prayers, he is present, he cares, and he is all powerful, none of this is difficult for him - his kingdom is being built even through this struggle even if I can't see it.

You hinge yourself - NOT on the fulfillment of a specific thing - but on the unshaking confidence that God WILL do everything that he has promised - and MORE.

Where is your confidence today?
Are you confident in the things that God says he will do?

Are you confident in the things that God HAS done??
How do I know that God will come through? How do I build my faith and hope in him?

Notice how God came to build Sarah's faith. He came down as a man - to sit under the tree next to the tent, to gently challenge her unbelief, and to ask the question - is there anything too difficult for the Lord?

this is how he teaches us to believe as well.
He came down and became a man. Not just that time he went to talk to Sarah.

He did it again a few thousand years later.

He came to speak to every single one of us - he came to confront our unbelief - to shock us with his knowledge of our hearts, and with his gentleness and love.

Is anything too difficult for the Lord?

There was one thing that was really difficult. He struggled and cried out in fear alone in the garden - but he did because of his love for us, foolish sinners who think we can hide from him.

He did it to prove that there is NOTHING too difficult for the Lord, not even saving lost sinners.

Romans 8:31-39
31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Application:
• Do you limit your expectations to avoid disappointment?
• Where does your confidence lie today? Is the main confidence of your life, your expectations and your view of the future rooted in God and his faithfulness?
If you follow Jesus today, no matter how long and slow your challenges are - do you know that you are loved, that you are redeemed, that you are adopted, that you are glorified, that you are essential to his kingdom, that your Father cares for you every day and he is working in your life in ways that are GREATER than anything you can ask or think?

Because we are confident in what he HAS done, we have the power to stand in difficult situations that make us question what he will do - as we stand firm, hoping in him and his goodness - we are a testimony to his greatness.
• Does your faith drive your imagination?
As you stand in faith in him - are you excited by the imagination of the possibilities of what God CAN do? Or are you safely wrapping your heart in doubt about what he CAN'T do?
Healthy faith has limitless imagination. Healthy faith is excited by the possibilities. Even in our suffering, there is victory.

For some God seems distant. Your dreams are wrapped up in silly worldly things that will disappear tomorrow. Here's what you need to know - repent and follow Jesus - not because he is going to limit your life - but because he holds the keys to the universe. His love will make you a different person. His love will transform the way you see all of life.
• Ask God to open your eyes more. Ask him to show himself, to deepen your trust.
What happened to Sarah in the end?

Hebrews 11:11-12
11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. 12 Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.

This is the call to all of us. Consider him who promises - consider his love, his cross, and his power for you today.